I guess I'll be the voice of reason and difference here. I am a year round bike commuter, work for an earn a bike organization, and now (after prolonged period of unemployment) teach driver education (driver safety) to teens. I'm a bike advocate, and I enforce to new drivers the need to be aware and respect other vehicles on the roadway.
I live off the SW path, used to ride it 2X daily to work , and use it regularly to get into town. (I now bike Old Middleton--> Old Sauk bike lanes, where I feel it is appropriate to ride 14-15 MPH... on a good day). What bicyclists seem to ignore is this: THE SW Path is NOT a BICYCLE exclusive path. Dog walkers, runners, joggers, strollers, parents/grandparents with kids in strollers, and more use it. it is a MUP: Multi-use pedestrian path. As such, I've always felt that bicycles travelling faster than 10-12 MPH are going *almost* too fast for conditions. (brief rant: the fast moving bikes, heading, I assume to Cap City trail, Seminole and points south RARELY alert their passing to other bikers or pedestrians. At those speeds, it can be frightening or unsafe). If I want to go fast to somewhere, I ride on the street, on a bike lane on the street. The SW Path is like a residential connector where speeds should be slower. Now I realize that the city is not going to enforce speed limits for bikes on the SW Path, so bikers need to 'police' themselves and be respectful and reasonable. If bikers operated at a reasonable speed, there would only be the need for 3-4 of those lights at distant intervals. I can see ahead to the pool of light well enough. Okay I think I've said enough. Personally, I've seen the new light, think it's not so bad, and think they could get by with just a few at wide intervals. I also agree about the Owls: the only time I've heard them is hooting over a house by the old Pasqual's restaurant. Must be something about that fried food that they love. Mark E _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://lists.danenet.org/listinfo.cgi/bikies-danenet.org
